Hit the deck!

Nautical retirement chic mingles with long shorts, cowboy boots, sexy peasant skirts and prints galore... sure signs of a stylin', sporty spring

by EMILY SOUTHWOOD

A common denominator of two favourite springtime pastimes, fashion and sports, is the pursuit of physical perfection. Whether your beauty quest starts from the inside out or the outside in, the budding present is bound to mingle these two impulses. Your sense of athleticism, your mad desire for new accessories - or maybe a little bit of both - propels you off the couch, even if it's just for chillin' on the terrasse in your new Prada Sport. Since we know that you Shox wearers aren't all court-bound, and all you lululemon girly bums aren't always on the way to yoga class, let's call a spade a spade: style is ever ass-backward, and it's spring, so let's celebrate.

Whether or not you've been busily treading miles to nowhere in the gym all winter, mad about hip hop aerobics, or boxing like a champ, you'll want to flaunt, taunt and tone in the great outdoors clad in the hippest trends, with your half-calf socks pulled up and your Bermuda shorts resting on your hips. Nothing says health and happiness like laidback vacation wear. The pavement is heating up, unearthing cigarette butts and bus transfers, so brush them aside and dare to bring the chic to the beach.

The leisure strut starts with your walk, and "We want to walk there!" is the motto for practical flats this spring. All the ladies are doing it. Boys in boat shoes say, "I'm no nautical novice" as they bring back the prep, circa LL Bean '84. Not shy of retirement chic, dudes in white pants flaunt lanky, tanned frames as they fly past on skateboards in tangerine, hand-designed silkscreen T's. A cinched trench coat and knee-length shorts says, "I'll be outside all day, rain or shine," or, "See ya later, old man looking up my mini while I bike."

If the terrasse doesn't do it for you, grab an afternoon badminton date dressed in a bohemian girly dress with a chunky tribal necklace to match his Hawaiian-print button down, before you shed them for a dip in a neon snakeskin bikini. Dress in flowing fabrics over a wife-beater, jangling with bangles, holding the hand of your man in his wafer-thin hole-y jeans and button-down floral dress shirt on an evening in-line skate to the Old Port for ice cream. Please, you deserve it.

RIGHT WAY, WRONG WAY

Right Way: Prints away! Polka dots, tropical flowers, tribal, bohemian, nautically simple, it's all over the map.

Wrong Way: Wearing them all together is a disaster... or fashion genius, so if you're just that relaxed, then don't stop now.

Right Way: Bermudas, jammers, knickers, city shorts... culottes even. Whatever you call 'em, long shorts are back for the ladies.

Wrong Way: Shpants, skorts - trim the phat.

Right Way: White pants make men Leisure Gods.

Wrong Way: Although, Leisure Gods gave birth to '70s orange tans, bad aftershave, then retro-hipster wannabes.

Right Way: Badminton, ping-pong, shuffleboard, horseshoes - off the cruise ship and into the city.

Wrong Way: Don't mock or fake. Irony is out. These are serious games for serious players.

Right Way: Pony club - cowboy boots are the Uggs of summer (great).

Wrong Way: Cowboy boots on straight men. You either read too much Vogue or eat too much meat - unless you're a real wrangler, then go ahead.

Right Way: Flats, flip-flops, boat shoes for all.

Wrong way: Those boxing booties are the bad kind of sport-fashion fusion. Enough already! Chinese slippers too - it's over, be gone.

Right Way: Peasant tops and skirts, ooooh more! Bliss!

Wrong way: One-shoulder tank tops, dresses, etc. Two legs, two arms, two shoulders: simple.

Right Way: Green is the new pink, tangerine is the new red, white is the new everything.

Wrong Way: Aquamarine is the new lime green, coral is the new taupe, dusty rose is the new periwinkle, shell is the new cream. Just kidding. Can you really go wrong?